Thursday, October 05, 2006

Drop it Like it's Hot, Pt. 3

The Administration is getting good marks from the IMF. I think this passage means something like 'stay the course and maybe you'll get debt relief sometime in the distant future':

This would allow the IMF to give consideration to further de-escalate the remedial measures and, with adequate financing assurances, a possible rights accumulation program aimed at clearing Liberia's arrears to the IMF. These actions could pave the way for Liberia to benefit from debt relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.

I heard the Minister of Finance on the radio the other day, and she was really impressive, laying out the immediate steps the government is taking to create jobs by investing in labor-intensive infrastructure projects, and building from there. It was refreshing to hear a Liberian politician sticking to the issues, telling the people what the government's plans are in a straightforward way. I say that because so much of what you read in the papers from politicians is just embarrassing, where some talentless demagogue is complaining about how his character was impugned by some other talentless demagogue.

2 Comments:

sarah rimmington said...

Good timing Josh! I got an action alert (see below) from Jubilee USA today about what Americans can do this month to ensure Liberia gets debt cancellation immediately, rather than waiting approximately NINE years, which is what it will take if Liberia follows the World Bank and IMF's debt relief program.

The alert includes links to a call in script and a fact sheet about Liberia's debt - including details about how much of the debt resulted from loans IMF and World Bank knowingly made to the dictatorial regimes of Taylor and Doe...

Call on World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to Immediately Cancel Liberia’s Debt!

From October 16 to 18, Liberian president and the world’s first elected black female head of state Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf will be in Washington, DC, meeting with decision makers and asking for support and solidarity as she works to rebuild the country after decades of a brutal civil war.

When he visited Liberia in July, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz pledged to support Liberia in its transition to peace and democracy, describing Liberia as “a country that needs almost everything and needs everything all at once.”

However, creditors are currently insisting that Liberia pay $1.5 billion in back payments and accumulated interest before it can become eligible for any debt relief or cancellation, this in a country with an annual budget of $80 million.

So on October 16 to 17 please call President Paul Wolfowitz with a simple message: Cancel Liberia’s debt without delay and without harmful conditions so that the millions of dollars currently scheduled to go to interest and back payments can instead be used for vital infrastructure and human needs.

Here is a link to the full Action Alert and Call Script: http://www.jubileeusa.org/jubilee.cgi?path=/take_action&page=100506action.html

Here is the link to Jubilee USA’s fact sheet on Libera’s debt: http://www.jubileeusa.org/take_action/action_of_the_month/Liberia_Fact_Sheet.pdf

The IMF is only just now starting to "de-escalate" remedial measures!? What? They are years behind. The interim government was there two years, and now Iron Ellen has been there 10 months - and they are only just starting to de-escalate remedial measures. Those dinosaurs need to get out of the Washington DC bound limosines and at least try and be a force for good! They are so matter of factly behind the times.